Archaeid
'Alcothear '(Seonian; old spirits), or Archaeids, were beings created by the Andir before the creation of Denoadus. They are God-like immortal beings, who take on corporeal form as they choose. Compared to a typical Human, they are nearly limitless in power. They came to Denoadus at the beginning of the Second Age, and were banished at the end of the Third Age. During the Second and Third Age, the Alcothear were seen as Gods. Many were worshipped as such--some as aspects of elements or other dominions, others simply as patrons or masters of groups of people. With the return of the Greater Pantheon, Alcothear were banished form Denoadus in an event known as the Scouring. The Creation of the Heladir Long before Denoadus came to be, the first sapient creations of the Andir were beings called the Heladir (Seonian for subjects or those who experience; singular Helade). The Andir brought them into being for the sole purpose of manifesting conscious thought and experience. They then created a perfect world for them to inhabit called Antara (Seonian for first land). Then they gave each of these beings the tiniest fraction of the power of the Andir, so that they could change Antara as they saw fit. After consciousness and power, the Andir then gifted the Heladir with communication, then love, and finally procreation. But none of these gifts fulfilled the Heladir, so they were given a new gift--death. Some chose to die; the remainder were opposed to the idea of death, so they asked to give up the gift of love in return for immortality. Alcothear and Man The Andir knew that they would never be able to truly satisfy the Heladir. They had been born into perfection, and could never know anything better than what already was. So they created new worlds, imperfect reflections of Antara. One one of these worlds, they created Man, an imperfect reflection of the Heladir. Man would not have the powers and gifts given to the Heladir, but would have a different life altogether. Instead of being given everything, they would come to it by their own works. Born with potential instead of power, they had the possibility to change for the better, instead of for the worse. After the first great civilization of Man was wiped out by the Flood, the Andir brought the Heladir--known by early humans as Alcothear--to the human world, hoping to cultivate more human-like values and behaviors in them. They then left the world to develop on its own, without the guiding hands of the Greater Pantheon to interfere. However, Over the next two thousand years, instead of attempting to integrate and coexist productively, the Alcothear moved in to fill the role of Gods left behind by the Andir. Late into the Third Age, the wisest among Men began to realize that these immortals were not infallible. Having existed for countless thousands of years, outlasting hundreds of generations of mortals, they had lost any sense of compassion or rationality they might have once possessed. Indeed most were in fact unstable, ranging from harmless narcissists to terrifying psychopaths, and their treatment of Men ranged from benevolent to tyrannical. War and the Scouring By the end of the Third Age, the Alcothear had become as Gods to Denoadus, ruling over most of the nations of Men. But Men had also become more powerful. Some had come to wield a fraction of the power of the Alcothear, becoming Wizards. Seeking to reassert their dominance over Denoadus, the Alcothear, under the leadership of Umladrathos, waged war with Man. The war ended with the defeat of Umladrathos at the hands of the Wizard Elandrochus within the ruins of Amun, in 2028 LE. With this, the Andir returned to Denoadus and banished the Alcothear.